Woman found slain behind vacant home

Plainfield resident was walking in West End

Thursday, November 06, 2008

BY ALEXI FRIEDMAN

Star-Ledger Staff

Belinda Williams was last seen walking in
Plainfield's West End early yesterday morning. About
two hours later, police discovered her body behind a
nearby vacant home. Authorities are calling the death a
homicide, marking the fourth in the Queen City this year.

Williams, 44, who had lived in Plainfield all her life,
had spoken with a police officer around 7 that morning,
said Plainfield Police Di rector Martin Hellwig. It was a
brief conversation, lasting less than a minute, before
Williams went on her way.

Around 9:20 a.m., a call came in about a body on the
100 block of Liberty Street, just off West Front Street.
Officers found Williams' partially clothed body
behind the vacant home. Soon after, investiga tors had
cordoned off Liberty Street. They spent several hours
walking around the boarded-up, three-story tan home near
where she was found, searching for evi dence.

Williams was known to the police department, Hellwig
said, though he would not elaborate. Authorities were
similarly tight-lipped about how she died.

Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said his
office's homicide task force was investigat ing,
along with Plainfield police detectives and the
sheriff's office. An autopsy was scheduled for
yesterday afternoon. No additional information was provided.

The victims' friends and relatives gathered near the
scene yesterday, including her son, Jamille Jordan.
Williams was a loving woman, the 28-year-old Jordan
said.

"She was fun," he added. "She got along
with everyone." Williams, who lived nearby on West
Seventh Street, had a liver problem, he said, and was
unemployed. Jordan, who said he last saw his mother the
day before, took care of her, along with his own
11-year-old son, Shayhein. Williams had another son, who
is in college, and a daughter, Jordan said.

Friends and family who were also at the scene yesterday added warm words about her and shook their heads in disbelief over the news. Besides her health problem, they said Williams dealt with other issues, but did not go into details about what those issues were....